Conventional semiconductor memory devices may use a memory structure characterized by a vertical stack of a tunnel oxide (e.g., SiO2), a polysilicon floating gate over the tunnel oxide, an interlayer dielectric over the floating gate, and a control gate over the interlayer dielectric. The vertical stack may be formed on a crystalline silicon substrate. The substrate may include a channel region positioned below the vertical stack and a source and drain on opposing sides of the channel region.
Another particular type of memory cell structure is characterized by a vertical stack that includes an insulating tunnel oxide layer, a charge trapping nitride dielectric layer, an insulating top oxide layer, and a polysilicon control gate, all positioned on top of a crystalline silicon substrate. This particular structure of a silicon channel region, tunnel oxide, nitride, top oxide, and polysilicon control gate is often referred to as a SONOS (silicon-oxide-nitride-oxide-silicon) device.
The SONOS memory cell may be programmed by a hot electron injection process that injects electrons from the channel region to the nitride layer to create a non-volatile negative charge within the nitride layer. The electron injection may be performed by applying a drain-to-source bias along with a positive voltage on the control gate. The voltage on the control gate inverts the channel region while the drain-to-source bias accelerates electrons towards the drain region. The electrons are generally accelerated towards the drain region, with some of the electrons being re-directed towards the bottom oxide layer. The accelerated electrons gain enough kinetic energy to cross the bottom oxide layer and enter the nitride layer. The nitride layer traps the injected electrons and thus acts as a charge storing layer.
Once programmed, the charged nitride layer becomes a floating gate for the memory cell. The negatively charged floating gate causes the threshold voltage of the memory cell to increase, which changes the magnitude of the current flowing between the source and the drain at various control gate voltages. Reading the programmed, or non-programmed, state of the memory cell is based on the magnitude of the current flowing between the source and drain at a predetermined control gate voltage.
The programmed SONOS memory cell may eventually need to be erased. A typical erase mechanism is hot hole injection (HHI). In HHI, a negative voltage may be placed on the control gate and the source-to-well and drain-to-well interfaces may be reverse biased. The reverse bias generates hot holes that are attracted to the floating gate by the negative voltage applied to the control gate. This causes a net positive charge in the floating gate and reduces the threshold voltage of the device.
One potential problem associated with erasing the memory cell using HHI is that this process tends to damage the bottom oxide layer.